By Lindsey Bahr, AP Film Writer
The latest "Shaft ," which adds a new generation of bad mother——- to the mix, is not what you might expect. It's not gritty or raw or even attempting to be all that cool. Instead it maintains intoxicatingly upbeat sitcom-style energy, with gentrification jokes, generational jabs (mostly at the expense of millennials) and Samuel L. Jackson, reprising his nearly 20-year-old role as John Shaft II, seemingly having a blast every step of the way.
It's not that it's sanitized or without violence. There are guns, many of them, and of the automatic assault variety. But this is the kind of movie that will play The Ronettes' "Be My Baby" during a big shootout, and not in a Scorsese kind of way.
It's hard not to be on board with the liveliness and the generally sharp writing. The film starts off so well, too, and as most movies really should, in 1989 Harlem with Regina Hall (as Maya) dressing down Shaft for his reckless life choices. He's not really having it, but their conversation gets interrupted by an ambush that almost kills Maya and the baby we find out later is in the back seat. So Maya moves upstate to the suburbs with little John Shaft Jr. (or J.J.) to raise him away from danger (and his father).
Shaft is there in J.J.'s life through the occasional Christmas present which, over the years include a New York Giants Super Bowl XXV ring, Magnum condoms and pornography magazines. But despite his attempts to raise a mini-mother—— from afar, J.J. grows up to be a nice young fellow and M.I.T. grad who wears slim fitting jeans and shirts buttoned all the way to the top and works for the FBI (aka "the man"). He's played, charmingly, by Jessie T. Usher.
The mysterious death of his friend, and his inability to investigate on his own, leads him to his dad's office to ask for some help. He gets more than he bargained for in terms of late-game fatherly advice on how J.J. is failing to be a man, and, specifically, a black man worthy of the Shaft name. And so this odd couple sets off to solve a murder, and, you presume, learn some lessons from one another as well. All well and good right?
Not exactly.
Director Tim Story and writers Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow made the pretty curious and unforgivable choice to imbue this story not just with a generational divide, but with all the antiquated and offensive worldviews from the "good old days" that they could fit in to two hours.
Early on there's a throwaway joke about an FBI boss having a transgender kid (the things he has to deal with!). It goes by quickly enough that it MIGHT BE forgotten, but then come the gay panic jokes — a lot of them — and the misogynistic jokes (because what women really want is a man who tells them what they want and never apologizes). As if that all wasn't enough to sour what could have been a simply joyful experience, they also manage to get an extended fat-shaming joke in before the final showdown.
It's very possible that the filmmakers assume this is all in good fun and even be acceptable because when Shaft is going off on what women want, it's clear that his son disagrees. But I'm not sure two woke characters (including J.J.'s smart love interest played by Alexandra Shipp) are enough anymore, especially when the movie clearly views J.J. as the nerd who needs to lighten up and embrace the old school ways of his much cooler father.
How jokes this offensive can make it to the screen in 2019 is beyond comprehension and a bit of a shame, considering that this has so much else going for it including a delightful late-game appearance by the original Shaft, Richard Roundtree, who looks fantastic, by the way.
There is potential commentary to be made about the generational gap that doesn't require dredging up the most deplorable intolerances. So what on earth were these bad mother——- thinking?
"Shaft," a Warner Bros. release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for "pervasive language, violence, sexual content, some drug material and brief nudity." Running time: 111 minutes. Two stars out of four.
Endeavor Group Sells Professional Bull Riders, On Location and IMG To Parent of WWE and UFC
The parent company of WWE and UFC is buying Professional Bull Riders, On Location, and IMG from Endeavor Group in an all-stock deal valued at $3.25 billion.
The deal is part of Endeavor's efforts to shed some of its assets as it looks to be taken private in a proposed transaction with private equity firm Silver Lake, which was announced in April. Ariel Emanuel, who serves as CEO of Endeavor, is also executive chair and CEO of TKO.
Professional Bull Riders is a bull riding league that has more than 200 annual live events, approximately 1.25 million fans, and reaches more than 285 million households in more than 65 territories. On Location is live event company for more than 1,200 sporting events, such as the Super Bowl, Ryder Cup and NCAA Final Four. IMG is a distributor and producer of sports content, packages and sells media rights and brand partnerships, and provides consulting, digital services and event management to clients such as the National Football League and National Hockey League.
Parent company TKO Group said Thursday that the acquisition from Endeavor Group will complement its existing businesses as well as broaden its reach in the premium sports market.
"PBR, On Location, and IMG are industry-leading assets that meaningfully enhance TKO's portfolio and strengthen our position in premium sports globally," TKO Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro said in a statement. "Within TKO, they will help power the growth of our revenue streams and position us to capture even more upside from some of the most attractive parts of our sports ecosystem: media rights, live events, ticket sales, premium experiences, brand partnerships, and site fees."
As part of the deal, Endeavor will receive about 26.14 million common units of TKO... Read More